blockchain MSc · 650 words · Viewed ~237 times
Sometimes - only sometimes - slowness is a feature, not a bug. A few weeks ago, I was reading about a purported use for "smart contracts". If your plane is cancelled, a smart-contract could automatically pay out your travel insurance, the millisecond the cancellation was reported. Nifty, right‽ Slowness for crap reasons There are plenty of processes which are slow for annoying reasons. The i…
Continue reading →bitcoin blockchain MSc · 5 comments · 400 words
Here's a (possibly) daft idea. What if you could pay for goods using a transferable bank account? Say you want to pay a friend some money. But you're not physically close enough to hand over cash. You create a new bank account with a unique username and password. As quickly and easily as getting a new email address. Couple of clicks and it is done. You move money from your main account into…
Continue reading →https security ssl · 29 comments · 500 words · Viewed ~35,286 times
Julien Savoie has written a brilliant post explaining how you can enable https on your intranet. This is useful for several reasons. It means your employees aren't constantly fighting browser warnings when trying to submit stuff internally. All your http traffic is encrypted. You don't need to install a self-generated root certificate on devices. Lovely! But there's a downside. Every TLS…
Continue reading →Doctor Who dvd review · 1 comment · 400 words
This is the semi-mythical "lost" serial from Doctor Who. Written by Douglas Adams at the height of his powers, and cruelly lost to an industrial dispute. There have been many attempts to recreate the show - but this is the definitive edition. All the missing sequences have been animated - with the original cast providing their voices. And what a show it is! The dialogue is sharp - rarely a…
Continue reading →Book Review Sci Fi · 1 comment · 300 words
Palia’s emotions are in turmoil. After watching her son succumb to Empyrean fire, she barely escapes the same fate. Guilt ridden and alone, she will not stop until his killer is brought to justice. The Protectorate forbids Ferrash to have emotions. That suits him, since he cannot avoid the people who control the Empyrean. Making this sacrifice prevents them from hijacking his feelings and using …
Continue reading →fiction satire Sci Fi speculative fiction Tales Of The Algorithm · 5 comments · 850 words · Viewed ~3,550 times
(I *sure* this was the basis a short story I read - but I can't find it. So I'm (re)writing it. If you know of the original, please let me know…!) The speed of light is a universal constant. This "speed limit" is fundamental to everything we understand about physics. Information - when propagated via the electromagnetic spectrum - cannot travel faster than 0.3 Gigametres per second. There is no a…
Continue reading →Doctor Who dvd review · 500 words
This is not one of the best Doctor Whos. But it is fascinating as a template for New-Who. A cold open on an alien planet! A celebrity comedian cameo! A feisty female companion! Wales! On paper, Delta contains all the ingredients for a great serial. What if all the weird people at your holiday camp are weird because they're aliens?!!? Is that bus really a spaceship? What if your best friend's…
Continue reading →blogging meta · 2 comments · 400 words
At the start of 2020, for some strange reason, I decided to publish a new blog post every single day of the year. And, a third of the way through that, COVID struck. In a way, it was good for my motivation. I didn't have any fun and exciting trips to go on - so I had plenty of free time. But there's only so long you can stare at four walls while your friends are sick and dying, without going out …
Continue reading →Movie Review · 200 words
What a treat of a movie! Kate Winslet shows, once again, how great acting isn't about who can shout the loudest, but who can convey the most meaning through a single glance. It is a movie of delightful contrasts - the sound design is overpoweringly loud, until it suddenly disappears. The silence is rarely punctuated with anything so crude as dialogue. In a way, the sex scenes feel not…
Continue reading →blockchain Certified Blockchain Professional MSc · 4 comments · 2,050 words · Viewed ~304 times
As previously discussed, I'm doing the Certified Blockchain Professional course. It is self-directed learning, so I'm going through it at my own pace. In order to consolidate my learning, and help organise my thoughts, I'm blogging about my reflections on each module. These are mostly notes to myself - but I hope if you find something interesting (or incorrect) that you'll leave a comment. …
Continue reading →blockchain Certified Blockchain Professional MSc · 3 comments · 350 words · Viewed ~489 times
Why do I do this to myself? Why? As part of my ongoing MSc, I have to take 3 professional training courses. I've completed my cybersecurity course, and I have a Machine Learning course booked for January. So what to do next? There's a lot of discussion in government circles about Blockchain. As with any new tech, there are plenty of Thought Leaders™ and sales drones trying to push it. For e…
Continue reading →drm ebook MSc · 3 comments · 450 words · Viewed ~8,053 times
I recently purchased a book for my MSC which was only available via a crappy Android app. There was no obvious way to decrypt it to read on a more sensible device, so I resorted to the ancient art of screenscraping. This is a quick-and-dirty way to grab images of the pages and convert them to a standard PDF using Linux. There's a lot more you can do to make the end book more useful, but this'll…
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